The Best Bookshelf Speakers for Most People

To select the best bookshelf speakers, we considered hundreds of speaker models, narrowing the field down to 19 finalists that our three-person listening panel then put through their paces with a large variety of music. Over 90 hours of research, testing, and listening went into choosing our top pick. In the end, the $400 DALI ZENSOR 1 speakers came out as our top choice for most people due to their combination of detail, soundstage, and bass response. Other speakers sound more muddled, give less body to the instruments, or produce audio that comes across like recorded music, but the audio from our pick sounds like a live performance. Each ZENSOR 1 speaker is a nice, compact size, and comes in a selection of finishes. And if you want to upgrade later to a surround-sound system, you can add a matching center channel.

Last Updated: July 1, 2015

Our new pick for the best bookshelf speakers is the DALI ZENSOR 1 set. If the DALI is unavailable, we recommend the Music Hall Marimba set, which lacks the soundstaging of our main pick but sounds similar otherwise. Our upgrade pick, the $550 KEF Q100, costs quite a bit more but offers a clearer, more detailed sound than our main pick. Our budget pick is the $130 Pioneer SP-BS22-LR set, which sounds less detailed than our more expensive picks but better than any of the other under-$200 speakers we tested.

April 27, 2015:
This is now set to wait status, as we’ll be publishing a new guide late next month. The new pick will be the Dali Zensor 1, which are a bit more expensive than our previous pick, but our panel decided the better sound was well worth it.

The Pioneer SP-BS22-LR will become our new step-down pick. They were the best sounding speakers we listened under $180, but all of the $300-400 models offer a clear improvement over them.

Our new step-up pick, the $550 KEF Q100, were unanimously preferred by our panel for their improved clarity and soundstage over the Dali. The price is nearly a 40 percent increase over our main pick, but we would personally spend the extra $150 because they sound more relaxed, while still being more detailed, and we can easily listen to them for hours without any fatigue to our ears.

February 13, 2015:
The Pioneer SP-BS22-LR is still a great bookshelf speaker, but since this guide has been around for a while we've started working on an update to it. We're in the middle of testing now, but look for a rewritten guide soon.

October 15, 2014:
The Pioneer SP-BS22-LR is still a great bookshelf speaker, but since this guide has been around for a while we've started working on an update to it. Look for a rewritten guide before the end of the year.

DALI's compact speakers came out on top due to their detail, soundstage, and bass response. This set has good build quality, multiple finishes, and a matching center channel for home theater applications.

Each DALI ZENSOR 1 speaker pairs a 1-inch soft-dome tweeter with a 5¼-inch wood-fiber cone. At a claimed 6 ohms nominal, with a rated sensitivity of 86.5 decibels, it’s efficient enough that a standard receiver can drive it. Binding posts make it easy to connect to your receiver or amplifier with bare wire, banana plugs, or spades. The build quality is good for the price, and DALI provides a five-year warranty.

These speakers lack the soundstage of the DALI ZENSOR 1 pair but otherwise come close to our pick. Music Hall doesn’t offer a matching center channel for home theater environments. For music, however, this set sounds very similar to the DALI.

If the DALI ZENSOR 1 set is unavailable, the Music Hall Marimba is a close runner-up. The soundstage (the “size” of the sound) of this pair isn’t as deep as that of the DALI speakers, so the music sounds more like a recording than the product of instruments played in front of you. Otherwise the sound quality comes very close. Music Hall doesn’t offer a matching center channel for a home theater, and the Marimba’s finish isn’t as nice as the ZENSOR 1’s, but this speaker model is slightly cheaper at $350 a pair.

The $550 KEF Q100 set is better than our pick in all regards. These speakers offer a clearer, more detailed sound, plus better bass and a full home theater lineup. Although this set is more expensive, it produces a difference you can hear.

If you want to go for an upgrade, the KEF Q100, at $550 per pair, is nearly 40 percent more expensive than our main pick, but this set was the clear favorite of our listening panel. We found the sound to be more detailed, with better clarity than what we heard from the other speakers. Like the ZENSOR 1, the Q100 set has an available matching center channel for home theater. It also comes in four different finishes, and you can even choose larger versions if you want more bass.

For $130, the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR bookshelf speakers offer the best sound for the money. Compared with the more expensive speakers we tried, they’re darker and less detailed, but they're much better than the other budget options we tested.

Finally, the $130-per-pair Pioneer SP-BS22-LR is our budget pick. These speakers sounded better than any of the other under-$200 speakers we tried, but our listening panel said that the $300-to-$400 models offered an audible improvement.

Why you should trust us

I’ve been a die-hard audiophile since my teenage years, and a professional audio reviewer since 2008. I’ve heard hundreds of speakers, reviewed dozens, and spent hundreds of hours listening. I’ve also taken training courses from Audio Precision and talked to speaker designers on the best ways to objectively measure speakers to supplement my subjective opinions with data.

We used a multi-listener panel to determine our winner. In addition to myself, we had Stephen Hornbrook, an audio reviewer for Secrets of Home Theater and Reference Home Theater for over five years, and Wirecutter associate editor and audiophile Michael Zhao.

Who should get this product?

Bookshelf speakers are great for anyone who wants to enjoy listening to music and who is willing to tolerate a bit more complexity in setup to get better sound and better value than other options provide. For example, Bluetooth speakers offer an easy way to listen to music but can’t produce a real stereo effect and use a compressed signal. Whole home audio systems like Sonos’s products can give you true CD-quality streaming but also have a limited number of speaker options and often cost more, especially if you want to listen in stereo.

Used with a receiver, bookshelf speakers let you listen to your audio sources in full resolution. Unlike most wireless products, they aren’t limited to CD resolution, since you can play back from any device you decide to connect to your receiver’s inputs. You can enjoy analog playback from vinyl, high-resolution digital audio from a computer or a media server, lossless Blu-ray soundtracks, and streaming content, of course—just hook up the source of your choice.

Even if you listen exclusively to streaming audio sources such as Spotify, bookshelf speakers might still be the correct pick. Due to the wires, they aren’t as easy to place and hook up as a wireless speaker like the Sonos, but they offer more flexibility. For instance, you can choose a stereo receiver that provides integrated Spotify or Bluetooth support, like the NAD D 3020 or Yamaha R-N301. Or you can integrate them into a Sonos setup with a CONNECT:AMP, or use them in a home theater system.

Although wireless standards will certainly change a lot over the next decade, a pair of passive bookshelf speakers will never become antiquated or useless.

Although wireless standards will certainly change a lot over the next decade, as they have during the past decade, a pair of passive bookshelf speakers will never become antiquated or useless. A pair of speakers from 30 years ago still work today, after all, and you’ll find many people still using speakers from 50-plus years ago, with modern electronics to power them. Modern speakers are typically better than older speakers due to advances in driver and crossover design, but an older speaker will usually still work, and will probably last longer than any other piece of gear you could buy today.

What makes a good bookshelf speaker

Designing speakers requires choices and compromises in configuration and materials, all of which influence the resulting sound. Some choices reflect personal preference on the part of the designer (or the intended audience), while others are due to cost.

Most of the speakers we tested had “two-way” designs. A two-way speaker includes two drivers: a tweeter and a midrange/bass driver (also called a woofer). This is the most common design for bookshelf speakers because of the relatively small space required for the two drivers. This type of design also uses a simpler crossover that has to separate the incoming signal into only two paths: one for the tweeter and one for the midrange/bass driver.

You will also find 2.5-way and three-way designs. A 2.5-way speaker retains a single tweeter but has two woofers, one that does everything the tweeter doesn’t (as in a two-way design) and an additional woofer that helps out only in the low bass. A three-way design has completely separate tweeter, midrange, and bass drivers.

Moving to multiple drivers can create better sound. As each driver has to reproduce only a limited frequency range, a speaker designer can choose a driver better optimized for those specific frequencies. Such a design also avoids intermodular distortion—artifacts resulting from a single driver that’s trying to produce two different tones at once.

The trade-off with a three-way design is a more complicated crossover (that link is to the Audioholics explanation, in case you want an alternative to Wikipedia’s). And the more complicated the crossover, the more expensive it is to make, and the more small differences in part variances can add up to a noticeable difference in sound. A three-way design also poses a more difficult challenge for the designer, since creating seamless integration between multiple drivers (so music sounds like it’s coming from one speaker) is harder than doing so for just two drivers in a two-way design. All of this complexity means a more expensive speaker.

Speaker manufacturers can make the drivers, especially the tweeter, out of many different materials, and again, these choices can affect the sound. Each material offers its own distinct benefits and drawbacks, but the overall voicing of the speaker plays more of a role than the technology does. Tweeters are most often available as soft domes, using a silk or other cloth material, or metal, using a material such as aluminum. Each of these options presents trade-offs that speaker designers work around.

Some people believe that metallic tweeters can sound harsh compared with the soft-dome kind, but this impression is largely a byproduct of the speaker’s overall design, and not so much the result of a specific material choice. A metal dome is stiffer than a silk or paper dome (and should be able to reproduce high-frequency sounds more effectively), but that stiffness can cause it to resonate more—and thus distort—when pushed too far. Although a soft dome might distort even more easily, its sonic artifacts are different than a metal dome’s and often sound less harsh to the ears.

You can also find tweeters using more exotic materials, such as titanium, beryllium, or even diamond-based materials. These exotic materials get closer to the ideal for a tweeter: especially stiff, to best reproduce high-frequency sounds, but also especially light, to reduce resonant frequencies and thus distort less easily. But given the cost of such components, they are usually present only in expensive speakers.

One of the speakers we tested uses a totally different tweeter design called an air motion transformer. AMTs, which resemble a small, compressed accordion, offer some benefits over traditional tweeters, namely a wider frequency range and very flat frequency response. But they’re also more sensitive to off-axis listening. In other words, they can sound very good at the primary listening seat but somewhat worse as you move to the side.

Cabinet construction also plays a role in the sound quality of a speaker. The most noticeable physical difference between the sub-$125 speakers and the more expensive ones is in their weight: The pricier speakers are significantly heavier. Cheaper speakers use thinner materials that are more prone to resonance. The ideal cabinet should be as inert as possible to prevent that resonance from getting into the drivers, where it can produce distortion—or even worse, become audible itself as the whole cabinet rattles.

Speakers also come in three main cabinet designs: sealed, rear-ported, and front-ported. A sealed cabinet has no openings. Ported designs have a port for added bass response on the front or rear of the cabinet. When the bass driver on a speaker moves, it displaces air that then comes out of this port to produce more bass. The feature lets you get higher output at lower octaves from a speaker without adding a larger, and more expensive, driver. The trade-off is that you need a larger cabinet size compared with a sealed design, and the bass from a port is higher in distortion than that from a driver. You also need to keep the port away from walls, which can be difficult—especially with a rear port—in some situations.

What we listen for

Research from scientists such as Dr. Floyd Toole over the past several decades has shown that when judging solely on sound, the vast majority of people prefer a flat frequency response.

The most important thing to listen for in a speaker is a balanced, neutral sound. Research from scientists such as Dr. Floyd Toole over the past several decades has shown that when judging solely on sound, the vast majority of people prefer a flat frequency response. Many speakers are designed that way, but many others have tweaks intended to produce a sound that the designer prefers.

A common tweak is to boost the high frequencies, or treble. When you first listen, this peaked treble produces the illusion of extra detail when compared with a speaker that is more neutral. But the longer you listen to such speakers, the more that peaked treble will grate on your ears and cause fatigue. When doing our comparisons between speakers, we would notice quickly that one sounded more detailed, but if we pushed the volume up or listened for extended periods, we always wound up disliking the excess treble.

Low frequencies, or bass, represent a challenge for bookshelf speakers. On one hand, you want bass that goes low enough so you can hear almost everything in the music. On the other hand, pushing a 5-inch woofer to produce such low tones can be too difficult, and most of those woofers generate poor, flabby bass that you really don’t want to hear. Since a larger cabinet helps create more bass, the larger the bookshelf speaker, the more bass we heard. During our selection process, we wanted to find a speaker that could reproduce bass deep enough to provide a nearly full-range listening experience but didn’t have to strain to reproduce those lowest notes and thus sound flabby or uncontrolled.

One of our most critical elements during testing was the soundstage, or the perceived size of the sound the speaker can produce. When set up in a stereo pair, speakers produce an image that varies in width, depth, and even apparent height. Our ideal soundstage takes up the front of the room, extends beyond the width of the speakers, and has some depth. Some speakers in our tests produced a narrow soundstage that sounded stuck in a small area between the two speakers. Others created a soundstage that seemed to come from inside the walls instead of inside the room. Others produced sound that seemed two-dimensional, with no depth at all. What we were after was a large soundstage in which we felt as if we could hear the positions of the instruments.

How we picked what to test

You can find hundreds of bookshelf speakers out there. Companies have been making them for decades, and every year hundreds of new models arrive. Testing every speaker on the market is impossible, because so many exist. So the first thing we did was narrow the field down to two price ranges.

First we looked at speakers priced at $125 a pair or less. This type of speaker occupies a much smaller segment of the speaker market, one that many traditional vendors avoid (and on which many Internet direct vendors thrive).

The biggest issue with the models in this price range is that they’ve gotten virtually zero professional reviews. You’ll find some good amateur reviews out there, but other than the Andrew Jones–designed Pioneer models, mainstream reviewers have ignored products in this category. To whittle these choices down, we had to rely on Amazon user reviews and ratings.

The 19 pairs of bookshelf speakers, and their boxes, in the listening room.

We looked at all of the reviews we could find (and trust), plus customer reviews, to eliminate models that might have problems in real-world use. With so many models on the market, we kept our focus only on the ones that received excellent scores across the board.

How we tested

Once we selected our finalists, we assembled them in my listening room for evaluation. We had a lot of them. Seriously. 19 pairs. We left them with music playing for several days to ensure they were properly “burned in” (even though we believe that the need to burn in speakers is mostly a matter of placebo effect sprinkled with magical nonsense). Driver suspensions can loosen a bit initially, but not to the huge degree some reviewers would have you believe. What’s likely happening is that your brain is adjusting to the sound. But we did this step anyway, just to be thorough.

Listening to three pairs of speakers.

To properly compare the speakers against one another, we set them on 30-inch shelves so that the tweeters all stood as close to ear height as possible. We placed the shelves at least 1 foot away from all walls for sound-quality reasons; positioning a shelf too close to a wall causes excessive bass and removes the balance between highs and lows. We borrowed an ATI AT6012 amplifier to power multiple speakers at a time (though we tested only three pairs per round). A custom active switcher built by our own Brent Butterworth let us switch easily between speaker pairs. We used pink noise to make sure the speakers’ output levels were within 0.5 dB of one another when tested.

We compared speakers in each price range head-to-head-to-head, using however many tracks it took to determine which one sounded best. If the results in a single listening round were too close for us to determine a winner, we rotated other models in and came back to those speakers later until we could make a choice.

To make sure that placement was not a factor in comparing models, we rotated speaker positions each round.

Our pick

DALI's compact speakers came out on top due to their detail, soundstage, and bass response. This set has good build quality, multiple finishes, and a matching center channel for home theater applications.

After we listened to the DALI ZENSOR 1 set and compared it with our 18 other bookshelf speaker finalists, it won us over with impressive detail, terrific soundstaging, and tight bass. With an optional matching center channel, the DALI speakers will work in both two-channel and multi-channel systems, and since they’re available in three finishes they should complement almost any decor. Other speakers surpassed this pair in certain aspects, but among those priced under $400, nothing else we heard offered the overall balance and performance of the DALI ZENSOR 1.

The ZENSOR 1 speakers sound very clear and detailed. During our tests, in “Just the Way You Are” from Diana Krall’s Live in Paris, both her vocals and the piano sounded more natural through the DALI pair than through the other speakers. Other speakers did a good job of capturing the sound of her voice, but the DALI pair better distinguished small details such as the sound of her mouth opening and closing. You get no peaked treble here, just a very detailed, smooth sound.

The soundstage of the ZENSOR 1 is what sets it apart from its closest competitors.

The soundstage of the ZENSOR 1 is what sets it apart from its closest competitors. Other speakers with similar detail and bass response have a flat soundstage. On the DALI speakers the soundstage is both wider and deeper, allowing you to locate where instruments are in the stereo mix. As a result, the ZENSOR 1 pair gives music much more depth and realism than speakers with a flat soundstage do, and in our tests we could easily hear the difference between the DALI speakers and the other models.

Bass on the DALI pair is good, with a nice balance between depth and quality. The DALI speakers don’t reach as low as some of the other bookshelf speakers do, but at the same time they never sound as if they are straining to reach notes they shouldn’t. In our testing, they communicated the opening to “Teardrop” from Massive Attack and the bassline on The White Stripes’s “Seven Nation Army” quite well.

We also like that DALI offers a matching center channel speaker. With bookshelf speakers that don’t have a matching center channel, either you need to use another bookshelf speaker for the center (which tends to be physically awkward to place below or atop a TV), or you need to use a center speaker of another brand, which will make voices sound different depending on which speaker the voice is coming from. Using a matching center channel avoids those problems and gives you seamless, cohesive performance. Although most people will use the DALI speakers only as a stereo pair, the ability to use them in a home theater gives everyone an easy upgrade path to full 5.1 and beyond.

The ZENSOR 1 model also provides good build quality for the price. The three available finishes are understated, and you should find an option that works in any room. Some panelists didn’t like the look of the drivers without the grill on, but the grill is nicely finished with a simple logo on the front. Appearances were not a consideration when we were trying to pick the best speaker—we focused only on the sound quality—but having a speaker that both sounds and looks good is a nice extra.

What do others think of our pick?

What Hi-Fi awarded the ZENSOR 1 pair its top five-star rating when it first reviewed those speakers in 2012, calling them “simply a joy to listen to.” The review says that “if you’re after versatile, energetic, little speakers that’ll entertain you for years on end then look no further.” For what it’s worth, the ZENSOR 1 is no longer the site’s top pick for bookshelf speakers (more on What Hi-Fi’s new pick, the Wharfedale Diamond 220, below).

Trusted Reviews conducted its review of the ZENSOR 1 in a 5.1 system with the matching center channel and subwoofer. The reviewer found the performance to be “stunning” and a “real delight” with music.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Compared with a couple of the other speaker models in our testing lineup, the DALI speakers didn’t go quite as low with bass output. However, those competitors all had flaws that made their superior bass meaningless in context. You can always add a subwoofer to a pair of bookshelf speakers if you really want to improve the bass output, anyway. No bookshelf speaker will be able to compete with a tower or a subwoofer for bass.

When pushed to very high output levels, the ZENSOR 1’s tweeter can become a bit harsh in comparison with the tweeter of the more-expensive KEF Q100 (see below). At lower volume levels, where people are likely to spend most of their listening time, the DALI model is fine. If you feel the need for ultimate volume, the KEF model can grow louder without producing distortion.

The upgrade pick

The $550 KEF Q100 set is better than our pick in all regards. These speakers offer a clearer, more detailed sound, plus better bass and a full home theater lineup. Although this set is more expensive, it produces a difference you can hear.

If you can afford to spend more than $400, take a look at the KEF Q100 ($550), which our panel universally preferred. The Q100 speakers sound superior in every respect, from soundstage and detail to bass response and vocal clarity. Music sounds more refined through the Q100 set, with better definition to instruments. During complex test tracks like Beck’s “Lost Cause,” on the Q100 pair the individual instruments were easier for us to pick out, while on other speakers they were more jumbled together.

The KEF Q100 pair sounds relaxed and comfortable, while still presenting lots of detail. You could easily listen to these speakers for hours without your ears growing fatigued.

KEF uses its own Uni-Q layout, which positions the tweeter inside the midrange driver. This arrangement is more expensive to build, which is why most other speakers don’t use it. What it offers is an increase in timing and coherence, as most of the sounds from the speaker originate from a single point. The timing difference between the separate tweeter and midrange drivers on other speakers might be a fraction of a millisecond, but it’s a difference the brain can pick up. In real life, voices and instruments originate from a single point, and the KEF driver better mimics this effect than a conventional two-driver system does.

All of us panelists agreed that we would pay the extra $150 for the KEF Q100 speakers ourselves, because we’re serious about sound and willing to pay more for something that will last us a decade or longer. However, the KEF Q100 pair represents a nearly 40 percent price increase over the DALI ZENSOR 1, which isn’t a small amount. If you do decide to go for the upgrade, the KEF Q100 set offers a difference you can hear. It also comes in a number of finishes, and it has a matching $500 center-channel speaker.

The budget pick

For $130, the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR bookshelf speakers offer the best sound for the money. Compared with the more expensive speakers we tried, they’re darker and less detailed, but they're much better than the other budget options we tested.

If you don’t want to spend $400 on a pair of bookshelf speakers, the $130 Pioneer SP-BS22-LR is your best choice. Designed by Andrew Jones, who has designed speakers for TAD that start above $10,000, the SP-BS22-LR speakers sound very good for the price. Next to other speakers in the same price range, this pair offers much better bass response, clarity, and build quality. Pioneer also sells a matching $100 center-channel speaker if you wish to build a home theater system around this set.

Compared with the DALI ZENSOR 1 and other more expensive speakers, the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR speakers are darker sounding. Voices and other instruments can sound muted, as if they were coming from behind a screen.

The Pioneer set is the best option for the price, but stepping up provides easily noticeable benefits.

What do you get if you spend more?

When you’re shopping for bookshelf speakers, you’ll find a huge range of prices. A pair from Dayton Audio, for example, costs $40, while a pair of Magico Q1 bookshelf speakers costs $25,000, as much as a new car. Testing every single bookshelf speaker in every price range would be impossible, so instead we brought in a few well-reviewed expensive speakers (though not stratospherically expensive ones) to compare against our pick. We selected three models ranging in price from $750 to $1,500 a pair to see if you do get a noticeable increase in performance for the money.

The $750 Pioneer Elite SP-EBS73 bookshelf speakers, also designed by Andrew Jones, are very different from the company’s budget SP-BS22-LR set. Each one features a concentric driver, as the KEF Q100 model does, and is also designed to support Dolby Atmos. In our tests the coherent driver produced impressive results on the Diana Krall track, as everything sounded natural and cohesive. The Elite SP-EBS73 set also offered better bass than the Q100 pair, despite similar drivers. Though the sound quality of the Pioneer versus that of the cheaper KEF is a bit of a toss-up, if you want to get Dolby Atmos at home and you also want good audio quality, the pricier Pioneer set offers that.

In our tests, the $1,000 SVS Ultra Bookshelf speakers produced room-filling bass that the other speakers simply could not touch. The 6.5-inch woofer of each SVS speaker is larger than those in the other speakers we tested, plus the cabinet itself is larger. When playing Led Zeppelin, Radiohead, or anything else that demanded to be turned up, the SVS pair responded and filled the room, without any of the strain at louder volumes that the other bookshelf speakers exhibited. The opening bassline to Massive Attack’s “Teardrop” was in a different realm. The SVS pair’s bass went deeper, had better definition, and helped the speakers create a larger soundstage than their rivals mustered.

Next to the KEF Q100 and Pioneer Elite SP-EBS73, the Ultra Bookshelf doesn’t sound as perfectly coherent; in our tests, Diana Krall’s voice lacked detail and transparency compared with how she sounded on those other models. Her piano, however, carried more weight and authority on the SVS. The SVS Ultra Bookshelf pair sounded better than the DALI ZENSOR 1 set in all regards and filled the room better than any other bookshelf speakers we listened to, but couldn’t quite match the detail of the unified midrange/tweeter drivers in the KEF and Pioneer speakers. If your tastes run toward rock or hip-hop, and less toward jazz or other acoustic music, or if you want impact from movie soundtracks without a subwoofer, the SVS might be your best option.

No bookshelf speaker model in the past decade has been as highly praised as the $1,500 KEF LS50. Comparing this model against every other speaker set in our test group showed why: The KEF LS50 speakers produced a perfectly smooth, effortless sound that outclassed the audio from every competitor. The soundstage was larger and more detailed on the LS50, and the bass was deeper and better defined than on any rival speakers other than the SVS pair.

Each LS50 includes a Uni-Q driver, like the KEF Q100, but uses a higher-end version. The Uni-Q driver here is made of a magnesium/aluminum alloy instead of standard aluminum like that of the Q100. In general, the LS50 model ranks far beyond the other speakers in build quality, as it’s very heavy, more solid than the others, with virtually no resonance when you knock on the cabinet. The LS50 pair is the best bookshelf speaker set we listened to. It’s expensive, but it does offer an audible difference.

Getting the most from your speakers

No matter what bookshelf speakers you pick, you can make them sound better by setting them up correctly. You could just place a pair of speakers anywhere and listen to the music, but proper placement (and some attention to a couple of other tips) can help you get the most from your gear.

First, even though they are called bookshelf speakers, don’t put them on an actual bookshelf. The result might look nice, as in the top photo, but it won’t sound as good. Most bookshelf speakers are rear-ported, so some of the bass fires out the back. Putting such a speaker in a bookcase traps that bass, amplifying it and changing its tone. Sure, your little bookshelf speaker will be emitting more bass, but at the expense of everything else. Bookcase shelves are usually adjustable, too, and therefore unstable and prone to vibration. Placing a speaker on these can transfer the vibrations and make for a subpar listening experience.

Try to put each speaker farther out in the open, with a bit of space between it and the walls if possible. Most people don’t want a speaker in the middle of the room, but even placing it on top of a table or a stand 8 to 12 inches from the wall will make a big improvement. You should strive to get the tweeters at roughly ear level, because that’s the way almost all speakers are designed to be used.

An ideal position for bookshelf speakers is on a pair of speaker stands.

An ideal position for bookshelf speakers is on a pair of speaker stands. The stands will put the speakers at the correct height for most people when they’re seated, and will keep the speakers away from the floor (and perhaps the walls) to prevent any impact on the sound.

Stands will include carpet spikes to better anchor them to the floor, giving the speakers a sturdier perch. You can fill many stands with sand or shot, adding weight and further reducing vibrations. Stands made of steel will last nearly forever. I splurged on $300 stands almost 20 years ago, and they’re still perfect today. You can spend far less and still get great results.

The front grill on a speaker is designed to keep the drivers safe from children and pets. Although the grill material is as acoustically transparent as possible, having it in place is not as good as leaving it off. So if you don’t have kids or pets around to damage the grill, don’t feel you have to use it.

If you’re running tiny, solid-strand speaker cables, you can upgrade those as well. Good speaker cable doesn’t cost much at all, and might make an improvement depending on what you’re using now.

If you want to go all the way, you might be able to improve the sound by changing the location of not only your speakers but also your furniture. Do you have bare walls or floors in your listening room? Mounting bookcases on the walls will help improve things by scattering the first reflection of the sound coming from your speakers rather than just letting it bounce off the wall. Heavy blinds or a tapestry will produce a similar effect by absorbing some sound, as will adding a carpet or rug to the floor. Putting something on the wall behind the speakers or behind your listening chair will produce improvements, too. You don’t need to install giant, ugly acoustic panels (as I did in my listening room) to improve the sound. Following any of these tips will enhance the sound quality of whatever speakers you have.

What to look forward to

Andrew Jones, who designed our affordable pick from Pioneer, recently left that company and is now designing speakers for ELAC. His first speakers for ELAC, called Debut, will be coming out later this year. These products will start at $230 for a pair of bookshelf speakers, and will offer a matching center channel, towers, and even Dolby Atmos modules. Once these products start shipping, we’ll compare them with our winner and see how they stack up.

The competition

These speakers lack the soundstage of the DALI ZENSOR 1 pair but otherwise come close to our pick. Music Hall doesn’t offer a matching center channel for home theater environments. For music, however, this set sounds very similar to the DALI.

The $350 Music Hall Marimba two-way bookshelf speaker set took first place in Brent Butterworth’s testing panel for Sound & Vision. In our tests, the main failing of the Marimba speakers compared with the DALI ZENSOR 1 pair was that they had a very flat soundstage while the ZENSOR 1 speakers offered more depth, creating a better illusion of instruments coming from different distances and points in space. On jazz and other vocal recordings, the ZENSOR 1 pair separated itself a little more, while on rock and hip-hop the choice was much harder. The Marimba model comes in only a black vinyl finish and offers no matching center channel speaker, so it might not work quite as well as the ZENSOR 1 in as many situations. The Marimbas are good-sounding speakers, but they come up just short of the ZENSOR 1 set.

The $300 PSB Alpha B1 was our upgrade choice last time, but in our current comparison this model doesn’t offer everything that its competitors do. The soundstage of the PSB speakers is more recessed than that of rivals, with sounds seeming to come from back in the wall instead of from within the room, and in our tests the woofer started to sound strained during passages with heavy bass. Instead of remaining clear and tight, bass notes started to sound prolonged and fatigued when we really pushed it.

Polk Audio’s $325 RTI A1 speakers have a large soundstage and lots of detail, but a particularly bright, forward treble. That brightness, or excessive treble, sounds clear and detailed at first listen but over time becomes hard to tolerate. In our tests, piano music was overly resonant on the Polk Audio pair compared with the DALI set.

The brand-new Monitor Audio Bronze 1 set ($400) offers good bass response and a large soundstage, but the treble is muted next to that of other speakers. Instead of having too much treble, this set has too little compared with its midrange and bass, and it can make recordings sound dull as a result. In our tests, the guitar on Bob Dylan’s “Shelter From the Storm” sounded dry on the Monitor Audio pair, whereas it jangled on the DALI and the Music Hall.

During our testing, Wharfedale’s $350 Diamond 220 speakers had good detail and nice bass, but sounded boxed in when compared with other speakers in the lineup. These speakers produced a soundstage that was narrow and confined to the center of the room, while other speakers created a more expansive stereo image. Aside from the soundstage, the quality of the sound was good, and we liked the build of the speakers, but we all preferred a sound that was more open.

Aperion’s $400 Intimus 5B speakers are part of our pick for the best 5.1 surround system, but in a stereo setup we didn’t like them as much as the DALI set. Vocals sounded as if they were coming from someone in a tunnel instead of inside the room.

The $250 Cambridge Audio Aero 2 speakers were more compact than the other speakers we tried, and sounded like it. The bass was quieter than the treble and midrange, and this pair was simply not as clear and defined as the larger bookshelf units were.

Definitive Technology’s SM45 speakers ($400) had the best bass of any bookshelf speakers we listened to under $1,000. The treble and the overall sound were a bit more exaggerated, and this pair just wasn’t as relaxing to listen to as the other speakers. Although the SM45 speakers did well with rock, they weren’t as good across a wide variety of music; they lacked the clarity of other speakers on jazz and piano, and the soundstage wasn’t as defined as with other models. This pair did the best job of reproducing the opening notes from “Teardrop” and the bassline in “Seven Nation Army,” but the SVS Ultra Bookshelf set still dug deeper with less strain.

The $180 Fluance XL7S set offers a good soundstage, but in bass it’s lacking compared with the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR. The treble is a bit more open, but it might also be too bright for some listeners.

Monoprice’s 10532 speakers ($80) have a balanced sound but are dark and overly bassy even when compared with the already dark Pioneer budget set.

The $60 Dayton Audio B652-AIR model has good upper-octave clarity, thanks to its ribbon tweeter, but offers virtually no bass. Listening to the opening of Massive Attack’s “Teardrop,” we almost couldn’t hear the bassline. This is also the only speaker model we reviewed that uses the cheaper spring clips that don’t accept banana-plug connectors.

Micca’s $80 MB42X set is small and compact, but in our testing this pair sounded poor next to all of the other contenders. The bass was lacking with the small woofer, and the treble had a harsh, metallic sound. Beck’s voice during “Lost Cause” sounded different here than on everything else, as if the tonal balance of the speakers was wrong.

The $150 Polk Audio TSi100 would be our clear pick for an affordable speaker set, but the company has discontinued this model. In our tests this pair’s soundstage was more open than that of the Pioneer budget pick, with more clarity and very good bass. If you can find the TSi100 set, it’s a very good choice.

Other speaker models failed to make the cut early on:

Audio Engine’s P4 ($250) is attractive and based on the company’s popular A5 model, but reviews say this pair works better for near-field listening (such as at a computer) than in the living room as bookshelf speakers. And more than that, people recommend the active A5 instead.

The $325 Bose 301-V model has a rear-facing driver that creates a large but diffuse sound. Reviews say that this set has a large soundstage but produces muddy results because of that design, so we weren’t interested in it. Furthermore, professional reviews of the speakers overall are poor.

Cambridge Audio’s SX-50 ($250) has good customer reviews, but professional reviews describe this set as “more functional than special.” In a category crowded with well-reviewed products, that assessment wasn’t enough to make us want to evaluate this model.

We thought that the $40 Dayton Audio B652, which has no ribbon tweeter, was worse than the more recent version with the ribbon tweeter, so we excluded it.

We cut the $235 Energy CB-10 from the running because of generally poor reviews.

JBL’s ES20 ($130), next to the other speaker sets, was too pronounced in the treble.

The $280 KEF C1 and $330 C3 have poor overall reviews compared with the speakers we brought in, so we tested the more expensive Q100 instead.

The Klipsch RB-41 II is now discontinued, and we did not bring it in.

We chose not to bring in the $300 Paradigm Cinema 100, as reviews indicate that this set sounds good but needs a subwoofer to reproduce the full range of music. For $300 we wanted speakers that could produce better bass than that.

CNET and other outlets give only fair reviews to the $100 Sony SS-B1000, so we concluded that the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR pair was a better choice.

Reviews note that Sony’s SS-CS5 is better than the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR but not up to the level of the Music Hall Marimba and other models. At $220 this set was too expensive relative to the Pioneer to compete as a budget pick, and the reviews we saw were not good enough for us to include it as a finalist.

Finally, Teac’s LS-H70A ($170) has poor overall reviews compared with other speaker sets that sell for the same price.

The Pioneer bookshelf, center and tower speakers are back on sale at Amazon.

Tankren

Canada gets a raw deal with these speakers. They are at least $100 more expensive at Amazon.ca (or anywhere else). So, are they worth $254.99? Interestingly, the “step up” speakers are very close to the prices in US.

Tankren

EDIT: Looks like they fixed the pricing a while ago. These are back on my list.

Tankren

Pioneer

Adam Broman

how does everyone feel about these as stand alone speakers hooked up to a AVR? with / without a subwoofer? thoughts?

Adam

I’m doing exactly that, as a 2.1 system. They sound great.

http://methylblue.com/ Max Howell

The Micca Motion MB42s are getting a lot of buzz and considered better than the Drayton’s for $50 now. I bought a pair and am well pleased.

http://twitter.com/timothymcn word is bond

How would these do as a computer speaker setup when paired with a mini-amp? Any recommendations on a good value for money way to use this with a laptop?

Brian Berger

I bought them for that very application. I’m powering them with a 15w Trends TA-10.1 amp, which definitely qualifies as a mini-amp (it’s about the same size as two sticks of butter placed side by side).

Can you recommend a great pair of powered bookshelf speakers for < $500? I want to plug them in to my phone, tablet or laptop. I usually steer clear of "computer speakers" because they are low-quality stuff. Thanks.

Thanks. I did try them out, but I was not impressed. Isn’t there a better option for $500-1000 (the M-Audio goes for $150)?

Zorba Greekthe

This review puts way too emphasis on Amazon reviews, which tend to be grossly rigged/manipulated by “reputation management” shills (google the term if you’re not familiar with this industry) especially in the “helpful/unhelpful” votes.

The reviewer also neglects mention of any internet-direct manufacturers such as Ascend, Hsu, Axiom, etc. which offer far better bang for the buck than local retail speakers. They are often not reviewed in the major audio magazines because they don’t participate in the reviews-for-advertising quid pro quo system that is the dirty little secret behind the audio press.

As for the Pioneer speakers, they are not horrible but not great either. You can do better with the Polk Monitor 30s that newegg dot com often has deep discounts on, as low as eight bucks a pair including shipping. They also have the larger and more robust-sounding Monitor 40s for a little more.

Jeremy Hulette

Anyone know an equivalent in Europe to the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR? Pioneer only seems to distribute the CS-xx70 series here, and the reviews are not nearly as favorable. I have found the PSB Alpha B1 here in Switzerland, but was hoping to get a starter speaker pair for under $200.

Murphy Williams

Though very close in price to the SP-BS41-LR speaker I reviewed two years ago, the SP-BS22-LR doesn’t actually replace it. Rather, it replaces the SP-BS41-LR’s little brother, the SP-BS21-LR ($129.99/pair), which had a smaller woofer (4″) and cabinet than the ‘BS41.

Allen Millington

I was at a BestBuy today just to listen to the different bookshelf speakers ~$200. There was even a Bose for around $300, but it’s tweeter had taken damage so it sounded rather poor. Too bad they didn’t put a speaker cloth over the display model to help protect it. I was honestly surprised how flat or muddled some of speakers sounded. The worst was a small pair of indoor / outdoor speakers (flat), but it was the only indoor / outdoor speaker in the bunch.

The Pioneer SP-BS22-LR ($130) were the best of the bunch. The second place was the Klipsch KB-15 for ($180). The Pioneers had better sounding mid-range, but the Klipsch were more sensitive and louder which would be good for low watt receiver / amps. The Pioneers were by no means quiet; their loudness was on par with the other models there. The Sony speakers were good too, a bit lighter sounding than others in the group, but not in a bad way. I own an old pair of Sony that are also light sounding, so it the pair at the store didn’t really impress me. Really depends on what you like to listen to. They still beat my cheap / ancient Aiwas which just muddled the sound due to poor mid-range and treble.

Oh, I also found it funny that they had the receiver set to Maximum Tweeter and Maximum Base. Didn’t catch it until after listening through all of the speaker sets once. I changed them both back to flat levels for the next listener

humanusa

What about Sony SS-B1000 ? How does it stack up ?

N.

So, if I’m not wrong these speakers do require a receiver to run them, right? And so if I’m looking for wireless connectivity like Bluetooth, Wifi etc, I should be looking at a receiver capable of that, correct?

Or are these plug and play? And if they are… aren’t there any Bluetooth plug and play bookshelf speakers (because I do want stereo sound and not a single Bluetooth speaker)?

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

You’re kind of all over the place. How about you explain what you’re looking to do and we’ll go from there!

frabcus

He’s all over the place, because this is all still incomprehensible!

What do you buy these speakers to plug into? Do you need an amplifier? Is the result better or worse than the Home Bluetooth category top pick?

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

They’re bookshelf speakers. 5-way binding. Plug them in a reciever.

Slickdealer

So they are on sale again. Second time this week at their lowest ever price.

I get a “This product is not available or is temporarily out of stock in your area.” error.

everytomorrow

Any thoughts on the audioengine P4? They’re a bit more expensive than the Pioneers, but I have a pair of A2s that I like a lot, and I love how Audioengine’s speakers look (I’m fussy about looks, it’s got to sit in my living room and get stared at all the time).

I actually have an inexpensive 5.1 system but I just don’t like surround sound in my current apartment. The living room is small and the 5.1 is uncomfortably overwhelming. I’m looking to hang on to my receiver but get rid of the 5.1 speakers in favor of a good pair of bookshelf speakers and a small subwoofer. I’d also welcome recommendations for small subs.

ADrumm

Any plans on reviewing the Micca MB42X ($80)? I’ve read/heard great things and they’re averaging 4.6 stars (158 reviews) on Amazon.
I’d be very interested to hear how they stack up against the Pioneers, and I expect them to surpass the Daytons at least.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Possibly in our refresh!

Rick Germain

I own both the Miccas and the Pioneers. The Miccas are great cheap speakers. The Pioneers are great speakers.

I have these plus their center speakers, they sound absolutely amazing and considering how much I paid for them, I smile every time I play them. However, I’m looking to make up a surround sound system, these will be too big to mount on the wall behind our seating area, any recommendation to pair them with a smaller surround?

Tiktaalik

I realize this review is about bookshelf speakers, but if one were running a 3.0 setup or 2.0 setup, with no subwoofer, does it make sense to go with these SP-BS22-LR or to go with the tower from the same group (the SP-FS52) for the added bass?

Brandon Roberts

I think you kind of answered your own question!

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but towers are almost always better if you have the space (and the correct placement more importantly).

Jenna

When will you be posting the update? I’d like to use your recommendation for my Christmas shopping.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Might not make it before Christmas. Sorry

Daniel Bautista

Eagerly awaiting this one. I’ll be coming into some fun money and would like to replace out TV and audio set up.

ginsbu

Curious what the updated guide is going to say. The Pioneers recently went down to $60 again on Amazon and I snapped up a pair. Very impressed, especially for the price.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

You’ll have to wait

Zonama

Can these speakers be used instead of speakers with the Bose Accoustimas 5 speaker system?

Geoffrey Morrison

If your speakers are connected to a normal A/V receiver (i.e. not the Bose Lifestyle system), then yes. Don’t connect them to the Acoustimass sub.

Well, I guess you probably could. Don’t think it would help, though.

Mark Glassock

Really looking forward to the update! Any chance we’ll get it before the end of the month? Thank you!

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Possible but unlikely

Do you subscribe to our newsletter by chance?

Mark Glassock

Yes sir

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

OK nice! Because when we are really close, it will be our ‘Next Week’ edit. But if I hear anything prior to that, I’ll try to get a note to you if I remember!

huja

Per my comment at the Best surround-sound speaker system, could you include the Chane A1rx-c bookshelf? I can only find one professional review for any of their speakers.

Vikram

Hi.. thanks for the great review… I am considering to buy this.. waiting for sale but it seems they dont go on sale so easily…
Can you help me with an optimum priced amplifier that would not limit this speakers range…
Thanks

Vikram

Will Lepai LP-2020A+ amplifier be upto task here?

yhomas

Listening to the bookshelf SP-BS22-LR side by side (in my home) with a pair of the center channel SP-C22, my wife and I both significantly preferred the SP-C22.

We also compared both of these to the floor standing SP-FS52-LR, as well as a pair of much more expensive powered studio monitors–Mackie HR824. The center channel SP-C22 and floor standing SP-FS52-LR were of similar sound quality, and both (despite having less bass) compared well to the HR824. The SP-BS22-LR didn’t seem as good as the others.

http://referencehometheater.com/ Chris Heinonen

The center channel has two mid bass drivers compared to the single driver of the bookshelves so it should perform better. They also cost 50% more for a pair than the bookshelves.

Bryant Vernon

KEF LS50s are amazing and should be on your list if you have $1,400-$1,500 to spend on speakers.

http://referencehometheater.com/ Chris Heinonen

There here as part of the update, though the cost is more than most people will want to spend most likely.

Chris Gunadi

Any updates on the update? I’m kinda itching to pull the trigger, but given y’all have been working on the update since October, it’ll be up any day now, right?

http://referencehometheater.com/ Chris Heinonen

Final listening should happen this weekend, and then I can write the article after that. So no guarantee on time, but it’s getting there.

Chris Gunadi

Good to know. Looking forward to it!

genebelcher

Did you consider the Wharfedale Diamond 10.1s, 10.2s, or 220s?

KokoTheTalkingApe

Any chance of including well-known “value” labels such as NHT or Paradigm? Infinity? And what about subwoofers?

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

We like the Paradigm Soundscape for our soundbar & used to rec an NHT system for HTIAB, but I’m not certain how those brands will play out in this guide.

KokoTheTalkingApe

What do you mean, “play out”? To find out how they would compare to the other speakers, I would imagine you should listen to them.

Great review. Next challenge – which speaker actually sounds best on a bookshelf 😉

CaptainGelatin

The Paradigm Atom Monitors are $400 a pair and probably would have been an appropriate fit for this test. Other that that, another great review! What I need next is an article explaining how to convince my wife that I need a $1,500 pair of speakers to replace my existing $500 ones.

http://btmiller.com/ Blake

Yep, I’ve got a pair of the Paradigm Atoms and I think they’re a great bang-for-buck.

http://referencehometheater.com/ Chris Heinonen

The Paradigm has a frequency response that only extends down to around 85Hz while the other $300-400 speakers we looked at are rated (+/-3dB) closer to 50-60Hz. At 85Hz you’re really going to need a sub to supplement the bass or you’ll be missing out on a few octaves. Also being able to have a crossover at 70 or 80Hz to better pair with a sub is good and the Paradigm would have to crossover closer to 100Hz.

Paradigm makes some very good things (see our Best Soundbar piece, for example) but the Atom just didn’t quite make the cut here.

I’d recommend the next time you do this test you try to include the Infinity Primus 150 or 160 series bookshelf speakers. Years ago when I was researching for new speakers I read glowing reviews on the then current Primus 150 in TAS (or was is Stereophile?) I’ve owned much more expensive speakers (Like John Iverson’s Electro Research 810, and Spica TC-50’s) and I loved the clarity, natural sound and dynamics of the Infinity Primus series (of which I’ve since added several other units to my 5.1 system.)

YaanG

Even better than the Primus is the $449 Reference 162. The CMMD drivers are amazingly transparent.

ginsbu

Very valuable comparison. I’m looking forward to finding out what you think of the ELAC Debut speakers when they come out.

The Pioneer BS22s occasionally drop down to around $60. I picked up a pair at that price and they’re definitely worth keeping an eye on if you’re a bargain hunter.

http://referencehometheater.com/ Chris Heinonen

I picked up the Pioneer for $60 when it was on sale last year. It’s a huge steal at $60 and even at $125 it is still the best of the cheaper speakers we tested.

I’m surprised you haven’t tested any of the Audioengine offerings available.

http://referencehometheater.com/ Chris Heinonen

From the piece: “Audio Engine’s P4 ($250) is attractive and based on the company’s popular A5 model, but reviews say this pair works better for near-field listening (such as at a computer) than in the living room as bookshelf speakers. And more than that, people recommend the active A5 instead.” The A2 and A5 were eliminated for being active and would belong in the computer speakers piece.

https://www.youtube.com/user/PhilosofikalOfficial Philosofikal

I see. I didn’t see that since I did a CTRL-F for “Audioengine” and they put a space where it doesn’t belong in the name.

huja

I hope you can do an expanded review of internet direct company speaker offerings in the future. It’s easy to find a retailer to give the mainstream brands a listen. The ID brands involve much more effort (and possibly expense) even with generous returns within an auditioning period.

culture_drone

I’d love to see thoughts on the Ascend Sierra 1 or Wave Crest HVL-1.

http://kartickv.tumblr.com/ Vaddadi Kartick

I’d have preferred a few picks for powered bookshelf speakers, so that you don’t have to buy a receiver. That makes it simpler to buy, saves money, eliminates a tangle of wires, etc.

At $650 a pair the 685 S2 is too expensive for the round-up. Also CNet felt the Pioneer Atmos SPEBS73-LR was an all-around better speaker (bass, detail) and included Atmos for $100 more, making it harder to see the B&W as the best choice for that price.

Green-billed Magpie

Thanks for this update.

at what point does it make more sense to just spend money on larger loudspeakers rather than ‘bookshelf’ speakers? Once I’m considering spending $550 for your ‘step up’ speakers, would investing that money in a pair of larger speakers be a better use of money if I don’t need the small size? Or would one need to spend much much more on larger speakers to notice a difference?

http://referencehometheater.com/ Chris Heinonen

So depending on the situation, you’re likely going to be better served with bookshelf speakers than a larger pair. What towers give you is more bass output with less distortion. For example, when you move up the KEF line you get more woofers for higher output, but the Tweeter and Midrange remain the same. So from 500Hz or so on up, they’ll be identical for the most part.

If you are listening to a lot of vinyl and want to remain all analog, then towers can make sense. However if you are going to use a receiver with room correction, or listen to non-vinyl, bookshelves with a subwoofer probably make more sense. It lets you place the speakers where they work best and the subwoofer where it works best, which is almost always not the same place. This gives you better bass response (a sub will outperform a tower speaker in most cases for low bass) and be easier to move around the room.

After having floor standing speakers for a few years I went back to bookshelves and a sub because it actually performed better in my room than giant towers did. And it’s much easier on my back.

Green-billed Magpie

Thanks for the reply!

Any quick suggestions for a subwoofer that pairs well with the Zensor 1 or Q100?

http://referencehometheater.com/ Chris Heinonen

I haven’t done many subwoofer reviews recently. You could try using the tool that SVS has to determine what matches up best as their subwoofers are a good value (and what I own).

Thanks for the great comparison article. I was happy to see your recommendations are based on controlled listening tests with an experienced panel rather than the creative writing so often seen in audiophile publications.
I was a little surprised to see the KEF speakers ranked so highly, as I once read that the practice of mounting the tweeter inside the mid creates dispersion problems in the treble because the midrange cone acts as an (unwanted) horn. I’ll have to give them a listen.

http://referencehometheater.com/ Chris Heinonen

I came into this piece with zero KEF experience aside from hearing their Reference 3’s at CES this year and came away buying their speakers for my home theater. We were all very impressed with them.

akibakun808

What do you think of the Dali Zensor 3 compared to the Zensor 1 and the KEF? In some markets the KEF is 3 to 4 times as expensive as the Zensor 1 while the Zensor 3 would 40% more than the Zensor 1.

http://referencehometheater.com/ Chris Heinonen

I didn’t listen to the Zensor 3 so I can’t offer any feedback on it.

John Rett

The fact that this review doesn’t even mention NHT or Aperion, which Wirecutter already recommends (and which heartaly I agree with) seems like a huge oversight to me.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

I believe our previous guide mentioned NHT, but we did mention Aperion in this current/refreshed guide.

Aperion’s $400 Intimus 5B speakers are part of our pick for the best 5.1 surround system, but in a stereo setup we didn’t like them as much as the DALI set. Vocals sounded as if they were coming from someone in a tunnel instead of inside the room.

Green-billed Magpie

man, you must get tired of pointing out when comments miss something in the article

John Rett

I must have messed up my spelling when I searched for it. Completely my bad. Thanks.

theodoredonaldkerabatsos

If there is ever an update, I’d be curious how Chane’s bookshelf compares at $300 per pair; I’ve not heard them, but quite a few vocal proponents on various forums.

They are frequently requested, and drops are quickly filled, on massdrop.com.

The weekly/daily purchase advice threads on both r/audiophile and r/vinyl over at reddit have them as frequent recommendations in their price range, though I think those threads are deleted after they age. Nonetheless, there are a few positive mentions in the audiophile sub: https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/search?q=chane&restrict_sr=on

How do the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR (and the other speakers for that matter) compare to the M-Audio Studiophile AV 40 from the computer speaker comparison? I’ve got a set of the AV-40s already which I love, and I’m thinking of buying a second set for another location with more room but could get the larger Pioneers if they’re better for the same price.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Forwarded!

http://referencehometheater.com/ Chris Heinonen

I haven’t heard the M-Audio but the Pioneers will require a receiver or stereo amplifier to go with them so they’re a bit different.

David Jackson

Ah, so not a same-price apples-to-apples comparison then.

Damon

Any idea on how these compare to EMPtek’s speaker line?

http://referencehometheater.com/ Chris Heinonen

Nope, sorry.

Vlad

Did you decide not to test or write about the Klipsch R-15M you have bought and pictured, instead just mentioning the RB-41 II is discontinued (even though it’s simply been replaced by an all brand-new Reference Premiere line)?

https://plus.google.com/u/0/ Perverted Alchemist

The Pioneer speakers sounded really good. I was surprised at how great it sounded- even though the driver is noticeably small when you remove the grill.

Chris Heinonen writes about home audio and video for The Wirecutter. He also writes reviews and runs Reference Home Theater. Previously he has contributed to Secrets of Home Theater, Electronic House, AnandTech, and HDGuru. He lives in Portland, OR and spends his free time chasing after his sons and running.

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